JPH0218988B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a dot printing head that prints fine dot patterns such as kanji patterns, alphanumeric kana characters, symbols, etc. using a dot printing head in which rows of small diameter printing pins are arranged in a staggered manner. Regarding printing methods.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the above-mentioned dot printing head. Here, counting from right to left in the figure, the printing pin row in the first row _l1 is designated as 1A, and the printing pin row in the second row _l2 is designated as 1b. As is clear from the figure,
The printing pins 1a in the first column _l1 and the printing pin rows 1b in _{the second} column l2 are formed by arranging a plurality of printing pin rows in a line in the row direction, and the printing pins in the first column _l1 and the second column _l2 are The pins 1a and 1b are staggered and arranged in a staggered manner,
Moreover, the printing pin row 1a of the first row _l1 and the printing pin row 1b of the second row _l2 are separated from each other by a distance P.
This separation distance P is equal to the distance between printed dots and the rows of dots, or is an integral multiple thereof.

Conventionally, we focused on the fact that the dot patterns of alphanumeric kana characters and symbols (hereinafter abbreviated as alphanumeric kana symbols) can be expressed with fewer dots than the dot patterns of kanji, and when printing alphanumeric kana symbols, we printed kanji. There is a printer that moves the dot print head at high speed even if the dot density in the row direction (the direction of movement of the dot print head) is sparser than in the conventional printer, thereby printing alphanumeric and kana symbols at high speed. FIG. 2 shows an example of printing the English letter "B" using such a printer, and the distance between the dot and the adjacent dot is P. however,
Move the dot printing head at twice the speed when printing kanji, and press printing pin 1 in the first row l ₁ in Figure 1.
Only a is used.

Note that the broken lines in FIG. 2 are shown to show that when Chinese characters are printed, printing is also performed there. Therefore, it can be seen that the dot density of English characters is sparser in the row direction (horizontal direction of the figure) and column direction (vertical direction of the figure) than that of Chinese characters.

However, with this dot printing method, the dot density of alphanumeric kana symbols is sparser than that of kanji as described above, so if kanji and alphanumeric kana symbols are printed together, the alphanumeric kana symbols will be printed entirely. The problem was that it looked thin and unbalanced visually.

The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and determines whether the characters to be printed are kanji or alphanumeric kana symbols based on the input code input to the character generator. Similarly, dots are printed at intervals of distance P/2 in the row direction using the printing pin 1a in the first column _l1 and the printing pin _1b in the second column l2. Instead of printing dots at intervals of distance P in the row direction using only the printing pin 1a of the first column _l1 , as in
Printing pin 1a of the first row l ₁ and printing pin 1 of the second row l ₂
b is used to print dots at intervals of distance P in the row direction, and the same dot pattern data is printed in the first
The printing pin 1a in column _l1 and the printing pin 1b in column _l2 print in the same column while being shifted in the row direction.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a dot printing method in which the dot density in the column direction of alphanumeric and kana symbols is increased, and the appearance is balanced even when printing a mixture of kanji and alphanumeric and kana symbols.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which when an input code IN of characters to be printed is given, this code is converted into an alphanumeric and kana symbol character to generate a corresponding dot pattern. It is transferred to the character generator 2 and the character generator 7 for kanji. When the input code IN is an alphanumeric, kana, or kana symbol, data of the corresponding dot pattern is generated column by column from the character generator 2 for alphanumeric, kana, or kana symbols, and the printing pin 1a of the first column _l1 is driven. The data is transferred to the first column drive circuit 3 and dot data buffer 4 for printing. The dot data buffer 4 is configured to sequentially shift the held data in accordance with a print timing signal TM supplied when printing each column of dots,
As mentioned above, the printing pins 1a of the first row _l1 and the second row _l2 ,
1b is P, and the printing timing signal TM is supplied every time the print head moves a distance P/2 in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
The dot pattern data held when this print timing signal TM is applied twice is shown in its output. The output of this dot data buffer 4 is supplied to a second column drive circuit 5 which drives the printing pin 1b of the _second column l2.

On the other hand, if the input code IN is a kanji character, data of the corresponding dot pattern is generated column by column from the character generator 7 for kanji characters, and the dot pattern data to be printed by the printing pin _1a of the first column l1 is generated.
_D1 and dot pattern data _D2 to be printed by the printing pin 1b of the second column _l2 are separated and transferred to the first column drive circuit 3 and the second column drive circuit 5, respectively.

The print timing switching circuit 6 switches the print timing signal TM to double the period when the input code IN is an alphanumeric kana symbol, so that alphanumeric kana symbols are printed with half the dot density compared to kanji characters. . In other words, the input code IN is determined to be alphanumeric, kana, or kanji by a code discriminating means (not shown) that indicates whether the input code is alphanumeric, kana, or kanji by the control signal S. When the determination signal S is supplied, the print timing switching circuit 6 does not output the print timing signal that was applied once every two times the print timing signal TM is applied. By doing this, dots are printed at intervals of a distance P/2 in the case of kanji characters, but dots are printed at intervals of twice the distance P in the case of alphanumeric kana symbols.

Now, when an alphanumeric, kana and symbol code is input, the same dot pattern data is supplied to the first column drive circuit 3 and the dot data buffer 4 as described above, and the first column drive circuit 3 receives the code discrimination means. The print timing signal TM is based on the discrimination signal S from
The printing pins 1a of the first row are driven in accordance with the supplied dot pattern.
As a result, for example, the dots shown in FIG. 4 are printed. On the other hand, the dot pattern data stored in the dot data buffer 4 is shifted in parallel by the print timing signal TM based on the discrimination signal S, and then shifted again by the next print timing signal TM. Take a peek at its output. The next printing timing signal TM is not supplied to the first and second column drive circuits 3 and 5 due to the function of the discrimination signal S in the case of alphanumeric and kana symbols as described above, and is not supplied to the next printing timing. TM causes the output data of the dot data buffer 4 to be printed by the second row of printing pins 1b. At this time, the second
Assuming that the printing timing signal TM is output every time the printing head moves by a distance of P/ ₂ , the printing pin 1b of the column _l2 is located in the row of ○ dots printed by the printing pin 1a of the first column l1 mentioned above. are doing. Therefore, the same dot pattern printed by the printing pin 1a is printed in the same row by the printing pin 1b. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the dots 〓 are printed with a distance P/2 offset in the column direction (vertical direction in the figure). On the other hand, at this time, the printing pin 1a of the first row l ₁
is located a distance P ahead of it, and since the first column drive circuit 3 is supplied with the dot pattern data of the next column from the character generator 2, the dot pattern data of the next column is printed at the same time as the above printing. A dot is printed.

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated, and the same dot pattern is printed on the same column using the printing pin 1a of the first row _l1 and the printing pin 1b of the second row _l2 while shifting the dot pattern by half a pitch in the column direction (vertical direction in the figure). By printing, the fourth
As shown in the figure, alphanumeric and kana symbols are printed in a thick, dark dot pattern, and the printing looks well balanced with fine patterns such as kanji.

In this embodiment, in order to print the same dot pattern on the same column using the printing pins of the first and second columns, the dot pattern generated from the character generator is supplied to the printing pin drive circuit of one column. Although the data is temporarily stored in the data buffer means before printing and shifted sequentially, the structure is not limited to this. For example, the data should be generated from the character generator in accordance with the printing timing of each column. Switching the column address of the dot pattern, generating dot patterns divided into a dot pattern to be printed by the first column of printing pins and a dot pattern to be printed by the second column of printing pins,
A similar printing operation can be performed by supplying this to the printing pin drive circuit of each column.

As explained in detail above, according to the present invention,
When printing alphanumeric and kana symbols, dot pattern data is printed with the printing pins in one row, and then when the dot printing head moves a distance P, the same dot pattern data is printed with the printing pins in the other row. As a result, the same dot pattern can be printed in the same column using the printing pins in the first and second columns at intervals of a distance P in the row direction while being shifted in the column direction.

Therefore, the dot density of the alphanumeric, kana, and kana symbols increases in the column direction, resulting in a density that is balanced with that of the kanji characters. As a result, even if a mixture of kanji and alphanumeric kana symbols is printed, the print looks balanced and the print quality can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a dot printing head used in the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional printing example, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of printing. 1a, 1b... Printing pin, 2, 7... Character generator, 3... First column drive circuit, 4... Dot data buffer, 5... Second column drive circuit, 6... Print timing switching circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A plurality of printing pins are arranged in a line in the row direction and the first
A plurality of printing pins are arranged in a row in the row direction at a position spaced apart from the first printing pin row by a distance P to form a second printing pin row, and a second printing pin row is formed. The dot printing head is provided with a dot printing head in which printing pins of a column and a second column are arranged in a staggered manner, and two drive circuits provided for each column to drive the printing pins. While moving in the row direction, dot pattern data and a print timing signal are input to the two drive circuits, and the print pin selected by the dot pattern data is driven at a predetermined timing according to the print timing signal. In dot printing, in which letters and symbols are printed in a dot configuration, when printing alphanumeric kana characters and symbols, the printing head is moved at a higher speed than when printing kanji characters,
A dot printing method that performs high-speed printing with a sparse dot density in the row direction, comprising: a first character generator that generates dot pattern data for the alphanumeric kana characters and symbols; and a first character generator that generates dot pattern data for the kanji characters. a second character generator for printing, and an input code that is input to the first and second character generators to generate dot pattern data of a character to be printed, and the character indicated by this input code is a kanji character. code discriminating means for discriminating whether the code is an alphanumeric kana character or symbol; and if the discrimination result by the code discriminating means is an alphanumeric kana character or symbol, a print timing signal is output at twice the cycle as for kanji. A print timing switching circuit is provided, and when the code discrimination means determines a kanji character, the dot pattern data for the two rows of printing pins output from the second character generator is supplied to the two drive circuits. At the same time, each time the dot printing head moves by a distance P/2, which is half of the separation distance P between the first row of printing pin rows and the second row of printing pin rows, according to a printing timing signal based on the code discrimination result. The two drive circuits are driven to print dots at intervals of the distance P/2 in the row direction, and when the code discrimination means discriminates between alphanumeric and kana characters and symbols, the first character generator The dot pattern data for one row of printing pins output from the dot printing head is first supplied to one of the two drive circuits, and then when the dot printing head moves the same distance as the separation distance P, the same dot pattern is generated. Data is supplied to the other of the two drive circuits, and the two drive circuits are driven every time the dot print head moves a distance equal to the separation distance P using a print timing signal based on the code discrimination result. A dot printing method characterized in that the same dot pattern is printed in the same column using the two rows of printing pins, shifted in the column direction and at intervals equal to the separation distance P in the row direction.